Huizen (Noord-Holland, Netherlands)

Huizen is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland, east of Amsterdam (coordinates: 52° 18′ 0″ N, 5° 13′ 48″ E), formerly the seat of a Mennonite congregation, sometimes also called the congregation of Huizen and Spakenburg. It belonged to the Waterlander branch of the Mennonites; at the large Waterlander conference at Amsterdam in 1647 this congregation was represented by Pieter Reyniersz; it must therefore have been in existence in this period and perhaps long before. There are no documents older than 1681. In 1731 it received from Jacobus van Hoorn of Amsterdam a rather valuable piece of land (since called "Hoornschehout") and other assets. The membership was small; no exact figures were available before 1792, when it numbered 35, unbaptized children included. The last minister was Jacobus van Moerbeek 1790-1834(?). Since 1834 no meetings have been held, and in 1843 an agreement was reached with the Amsterdam congregation concerning the administration of the properties of the Huizen congregation. The church, now converted into a private house, still stood in 1955, and an inscription, Religioni consecrata, recalled its former use.

In 1878 the sleeping congregation awoke and came to new life. A meetinghouse was built at Hilversum and the name of the congregation became Hilversum-Huizen. For the history of this congregation since 1878 see article Hilversum.